Import & Export

Archflow's import/export system lets you share projects, create backups, and transfer architecture work between environments.

Export

Export your project as a portable .archflow.gz archive that includes:

• All systems and their hierarchy
• Connections and relationships
• Diagrams with canvas positions
• Workflows and business processes (including step mappings and canvas state)
• Deployment configurations
• Arc42 architecture profiles
• Documentation content

Export Options

• Full Project --- Export everything in the project
• Version-Specific --- Export a specific version of your architecture

How to Export

1. Open your project
2. Navigate to the project settings or use the export action
3. Click Export Project
4. Choose export options
5. Download the .archflow.gz archive

Import

Import projects from .archflow.gz archives:

1. From the dashboard or the Systems page, click Import Project
2. Upload the archive file
3. Resolve any naming conflicts
4. The project is created with all its data intact

Cross-User Sharing

Projects can be exported by one user and imported by another, making it easy to share architecture work across teams or organizations.

Import as System

You can also import a project as a subsystem within an existing project. From the Systems page, click Import Project to:

• Create the imported systems as nested elements under a parent system
• Remap all connections and relationships using ID mapping
• Preserve workflows with proper step mapping and canvas state remapping
• Import Arc42 profiles for imported systems
• Mark imported elements as read-only (isImported = true)

Imported workflows retain their steps, connections, and canvas state, with all IDs properly remapped to the new project context.

Resync

After initial import, use resync to update imported subsystems:

• Add new systems and workflows from the source
• Update metadata for existing imported elements
• Remove elements that were deleted in the source

Source Documents

In addition to .archflow.gz imports, Archflow supports Source Document uploads for AI-powered knowledge extraction:

1. Navigate to the project Dashboard and open the Source Documents tab
2. Upload documents (text files, markdown, etc.)
3. Archflow's AI parses the document to extract systems, connections, and documentation blocks
4. Review the extraction summary showing discovered systems, connections, and doc blocks
5. Sync the parsed data into your project architecture

Source Document Workflow

• Upload --- Add documents to the project
• Parse --- AI extracts architectural knowledge (systems, connections, doc blocks)
• Review --- Check the extraction results before syncing
• Sync --- Apply extracted data to your project
• Reparse --- Re-process documents that failed or need updating

This is useful for bootstrapping a project from existing documentation, RFPs, or architecture decision records.

Job Processing

Import and export operations run as background jobs with:

• Progress tracking --- See real-time progress during long operations with a progress indicator
• Atomic operations --- Operations either fully complete or fully roll back
• Distributed safety --- Safe for multi-server deployments using heartbeat and locking